Blade Runner 2049 (Villeneuve, 2017) is undoubtedly a beautiful looking film, achieving something few thought possible -successfully building and expanding upon Ridley Scott’s grim vision of a dystopian future. The pairing of Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins has ensured a sequel that looks as dazzling as the original and has the pathos to match.

It’s a sunny day, which is just as well as writer/director Luke Jeffery is scouting a location for a summer fete after our conversation. Although you wouldn’t put it past Luke to somehow conjure up a snowstorm as a backdrop for summer activities. Judging by his films, he has a rather side-long view of the world.

17 facts about the 17th Bond film on its 20th Anniversary

People like to argue about who the best Bond is but I don’t care. You can keep your Daniel Craigs, Sean Connerys, Roger Moores and the other two. My favourite incarnation of 007 is Pierce Brosnan. GoldenEye (Campbell, 1995) was Brosnan’s debut, released in November 1995, which means it’s 20-years old! To mark its anniversary, here are a few facts about GoldenEye, that you probably didn’t know…

1. The name’s… not Bond

Timothy Dalton was due to star in the 17th Bond film (GoldenEye), but instead, he decided to quit. This surprised many people, none-more-so than Bond 17’s screenwriters, who had already written a script with Dalton in mind.

2. The Bonds that never were

Pierce Brosnan was offered Bond in the ’80s but did you know Liam Neeson and Mel Gibson were offered GoldenEye before Brosnan? When both actors passed, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson went with the cheaper option.

3. Kept you waiting, huh?

The six-year delay between the release of License to Kill and GoldenEye is the longest gap between entries in the franchise’s entire history.

4. The return of an old friend

The Aston Martin DB5 is synonymous with 007 but its appearance in GoldenEye marked the first time the car had appeared in a Bond film since 1965’s Thunderball.

5. A license to kill a lot of people

Pierce Brosnan’s 007 manages to kill 39 people in GoldenEye. Roger Moore easily beats that with a whopping 59 kills in Octopussy, buton average, Brosnan is the deadliest of all the 007s -with 27 kills per film.

6. Codename GoldenEye

GoldenEye was the first James Bond film to be created completely independently of Ian Fleming’s books but the title was taken from the name of Fleming’s Jamaican estate.

7. Bond was always a bit of a Queen

If the train sequence where Bond derails 006’s armoured train looks familiar, that’s because the location -Nene Valley Railway -was used to film Queen‘s ‘Breakthru‘ music video.

8. I ate Mr Bond’s liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti

Bond’s producers wanted a big star to play GoldenEye‘s chief big bad aka Alec Trevelyan. Anthony Hopkins was their first choice but he turned it down, as did Alan Rickman.

9. Close but no cigar

Sean Bean auditioned for the role of James Bond twice and for two different films: GoldenEye and The Living Daylights. Still, he got to play one of Bond’s more memorable adversaries.

10. Always behind the times, but never without a watch

Prior to GoldenEye, 007 wore a variety of watches but the debut of Pierce Brosnan triggered a new dawn, with Bond wearing an Omega SeaMaster in each film thereafter. However, the watch Bond wears has nothing to do with advertising.

11. Strangling a cat

Everyone knows the GoldenEye theme song was written by U2’s Bono and The Edge. But did you know Bono also recorded his own version? Mercifully it was never used.

12. Muffy

Actor Joe Don Baker has appeared in the Bond franchise as two different characters; as Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights and as CIA operative Jack Wade in GoldeneEye. Is he the best double-agent ever? Probably not.

13. From Hong Kong with Love

Somewhat unbelievably, Hong Kong action cinema auteur John Woo was originally offered the opportunity to direct GoldenEye but he turned it down -just imagine what could have been!

14. The era of computer generated tomfoolery begins

GoldenEye has the honour of being the first Bond film to feature computer generated effects. Just don’t mention Die Another Day‘s invisible car

15. The Spy who loved the other Spy

The original GoldenEye script had to be rewritten because it was too similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1994 action film, True Lies –a film that steals liberally from Bond.

16. Bond and M sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G

In the original script for GoldenEye, the first scene between Bond and M implied that the two were former lovers but fortunately the producers dropped this awful idea.

17. GoldenEye’s multiplayer mode on the N64 was almost never a thing

GoldenEye for the N64 was infamous for its multiplayer shenanigans. However, the multiplayer mode was never meant to exist -it was an afterthought put together in secret by the developers in the last six weeks of production. Thank you RARE!

The formula: Shaken but not stirred

The formula for a James Bond film is a simple cocktail of action, explosions, globetrotting and beautiful women. Despite the age of the series it lacks any real maturity and like the MARVEL superhero films, it’s a series -despite the range of its fans -that is primarily aimed at impressionable young men. The franchise’s biggest problem is its regressive treatment of women, however, that problem isn’t just limited to the characters that inhabit these films. If art reflects reality, then the toxicity at the heart of the James Bond series is a reflection of the world in which these films are made.

Mad Max: Fury Road (Miller, 2015), is surely the biggest surprise in cinemas so far this year. George Miller‘s return to his post-apocalyptic wasteland is a frenzied, heavy metal affair â€“ where the action does not let up and nor does it disappoint.

What does it take to get a film festival off the ground? How do you make it an success? Well, Plymouth University graduates William Jenkins and Ben Hancock have done just that. William and Ben founded the Plymouth Film Festival in 2013. Its inaugural event taken place in 2014 which was a great success. It is quick becoming a major showcase for local international filmmakers. I was intrigued to find out more about the festival, the highlights of the event, how Roger Deakins became involved, and what we can expect from next year. What better person to answer these questions than one of the co-creators of the festival William Jenkins who I recently caught up with.

Many actors feel drawn to sequels of films that they enjoyed themselves or were successful the first time around. Sometimes, they’re even draw to certain characters that they feel a connection to. It’s not just struggling or low-level actors that want a piece of the pie, because even top-paid actors get giddy at the idea of being a part of a franchise that they love.

Award-winning dark sci-fi reflection/prediction of the corporatisation of our everyday born out of a music video, Welcome to Oxmouth makes an impact and helps explain that unsettling daily feeling of being cheated.

Actors often pass into obscurity, even the ones who at one point were the hottest thing in Hollywood; unsurprisingly the world of celebrity is a fickle beast. Take Michael Keaton, who, for a short period of time -in the late ’80s and early ’90s -was one of Hollywood’s top leading men; a status indisputably due to his casting in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989).

Late 2013 finally saw Blockbuster Entertainment shut its doors permanently. There will be no more, ‘Bringing Entertainment Home’, no more late fees or alcohol-fuelled, late-night visits with friends to pick a film.

At just 19 years of age filmmaker Chris Trevena from Camborne is already building up an impressive showreel. Alongside studying for his HND in Media Moving Image at Truro College, Chris can often be found behind his camera, at gigs and festivals across the South West. An avid music listener, Chris has been working closely with several Devon and Cornwall based acts over the last 12 months, filming them live, and even throwing intimate festivals in his back garden.